Fine Motor Skills for Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents And Professionals (Topics in Down Syndrome) [Paperback]

Maryanne Bruni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2006

The updated and expanded 2nd edition of "Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome" continues to be a popular, practical guide to understanding fine motor skills in children with Down syndrome and helping them develop these skills from birth through early adolescence. The first edition won a Parent's Choice Award in 1999. The author, an occupational therapist who has worked extensively with children with Down syndrome, is also the parent of a teenager with Down syndrome. She offers parents and professionals dozens of easy, home-and school-based activities, illustrated with black and white photos, which help children gradually acquire the skills they need for fine motor development. Readers learn how to incorporate work on fine motor skills into everyday activities and routines and to emphasise tasks that children can use throughout life - play, self-help, printing, cutting with scissors, and computer use. New to this edition is a chapter on sensory processing and how the sensory system affects behaviour and learning in children with Down syndrome. Parents learn strategies that can help children handle various sensory problems so they can continue to learn daily living skills. Bruni includes new information on determining when a child is ready for 'pre-printing' activities (things a child can do to prepare for trying to print letters) and how to introduce related concepts (up and down; top and bottom; start and stop; left and right). The 2nd edition also includes more information on ways to help children learn self-help skills, such as dressing, using a fork and spoon, and becoming potty trained. This new and improved edition gives parents and professionals the expertise and confidence they need to help children build fine motor abilities and become more independent. This book is useful for parents of children with Down syndrome, early intervention specialists, occupational and physical therapists, and teachers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A]n excellent resource for both parents and professionals." --Physical Therapy, Volume 87, Number 1

About the Author

Maryanne Bruni graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy. She has worked in a variety of pediatric settings. For the past ten years, she has been the occupational therapist at an integrated preschool. She lives with her husband and three daughters in Toronto, Canada. The first edition of Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome won a ParentÂ’s Choice Award in 1999.

Product Details

• Paperback: 241 pages
• Publisher: Woodbine House; 2nd edition (March 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890627674
• ISBN-13: 978-1890627676
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have reference for pediatric occupational therapist, February 29, 2000

By 

Christine V. Smith (Cincinnati OH USA--where pigs do fly) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Topics in Down Syndrome) (Paperback)

Maryanne Bruni has taken the best of both worlds of knowledge-therapist and parent of Down syndrome child--and combined them when she wrote this terrific guide. Listing developmental sequences step by step for scissors and handwriting skills helps me explain to parents what to work on at home and what to expect next. This guide should be in every pediatric facility and early childhood program's library. It covers all the practical hands-on treatment ideas that get glossed over in OT school. Thanks, Maryanne.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An encouraging help for parents, February 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fine Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Topics in Down Syndrome) (Paperback)

This is an excellent resource for parents of young children with Down syndrome. The author is encouraging and helpful, offering several activities for reaching each goal. Her explanation of the components of fine motor coordination are very helpful in allowing a more complete understanding of the reason why your child is doing each activity he/she does. I consult with this book regularly and it has given our OT some ideas as well!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, April 11, 2007

By 

J. Pariseau "flock mom" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fine Motor Skills for Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents And Professionals (Topics in Down Syndrome) (Paperback)

This is a great book for anyone working with or parenting children with down syndrome (and fascinating for anyone with children). It covers development based on stages rather than ages, so the focus can be on the child and not on a outwardly determined norm for development.